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Tasa’s Mineral Database app now supports iPhone and iPod touch

by admin • June 6, 2014 • Comments Off on Tasa’s Mineral Database app now supports iPhone and iPod touch

Taos, New Mexico – The Mineral Database compiled by M. Darby Dyar and Mickey E. Gunter and illustrated by Dennis Tasa is now a universal app so that it may be installed on the iPhone and iPod touch as well as the iPad. If you have the iPad version, just update to version 1.2 and then install it on all your iOS devices. If you were waiting for the iPhone version, just go to the App Store and purchase it. The app requires iOS 6.1 or later.

The screen layout for the iPhone is very different than the iPad screens. There are multiple views that may be selected from the main menu. However, all of the data and features from the iPad version are included in the iPhone version, just the user interface is different.

This app provides a quick reference for students, educators, professionals, or anyone interested in minerals. This searchable database is easy to use. No internet connection is required. Ideal for field use. Recently updated to include 3D crystal structures that you can rotate and enlarge to fill your screen.

Entries for more than 300 common mineral species cover the vast majority of occurrences without presenting an overwhelming number of obscure species rarely encountered. The software provides hand sample photos, photomicrographs of thin sections, physical properties, 3D crystal structure animations, optical properties, classification, and occurrence data as well as partial data for many more species, varieties, groups, sub-groups, and series.

Search for color, hardness, and streak in field and classroom uses. Use the app as a companion to a polarizing light microscope by searching for birefringence or refractive index. Identify your unknown mineral through use of any or all 54 search criteria. The comprehensive search feature allows mineral identification by using known physical properties (such as color, streak, luster etc.) or crystal and optical properties. Or, you can visually search the hand sample photos and photomicrographs using the pop-up image galleries.

Pricing and Availability:
Mineral Database 1.2 is $9.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Reference category. This database complements the authors’ textbook, “Mineralogy and Optical Mineralogy,” available from the Mineralogical Society of America.